The United States and Japan will step up their defence cooperation to deal with the threat from nuclear-armed North Korea as tensions in East Asia remain high, officials from the two allies said on Thursday.

Oz doing better than UK in gender equality

When it comes to gender equality in the workplace, Australia is doing better than Britain in most areas.

Australia not only employs more female CEOs than Britain, but its overall gender pay gap is smaller.

New figures released from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency's (WGEA) annual report show that full-time female employees in the private sector took home a base salary 19.1 per cent less than men last financial year - a difference of $17,423.

However, in terms of the overall national gender pay gap, figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics this year revealed a 17.9 per cent gap between male and female earnings.

In contrast, England's overall pay gap is about 19.7 per cent.

Speaking at the WGEA 2014-15 data launch in Melbourne, British High Commissioner to Australia Menna Rawlings said both countries faced the same challenges regarding gender workplace equality as other developing economies.